Samus ran down one corridor, only to find another intersection with three other paths. None seemed to be correct, and they always brought her to another one. She took the corridor directly ahead, hoping that it would at least take her farther away from where she had started. But another intersection was all that awaited her.

Samus! Help me!

She chose the direction in which the voice had come from, running the whole way. Fear gripped her like a vice, sweat pouring down her face. She wouldn't fail this time.

Please, Samus! Help me!

This time the voice came from behind, the way she had come. She turned around and sped back to the intersection. When she arrived, the sight made her sink to her knees. Renick's empty vac-suit lay next to a damaged weapon splattered with metroid and human blood. In the air above them, was an omicron class metroid. It stared at her, a ravenous hunger reflecting in it's eyes. It's screetch meant little to her as it latched onto her face. She didn't try to fight, nor did she want to. She wanted it to end. And end, it did.

"Samus!"

"Huh?" Samus looked up, dazed. Drool hung from mouth, covering the microphone in her helmet. In front of her hung a large star, it's red-gold light burning her eyes. She shut her eyes and groaned.

"You awake?" Asked the voice.

"Yeah," She said yawning "I'm awake."

"Uh-huh. I've been trying to call you for five minutes now." He informed her "It's not right to keep one waiting."

Oh, shut up. She thought. So what if she had slept a little? It's not like they were under attack. "Where are we?" She asked.

"At the specified coordinates."

"Which is... where?"

"About 30,000 lightyears from earth."

Samus' lip twitched. Whoever this guy was, he certainly enjoyed being vague. Hell, she didn't even know who he was.

"You'll need to-"

"Hold it." She interupted "Just who are you anyway?"

"You're not going to do anything until I tell you, are you?"

"No." She answered.

"Very well then. My name is Cenir. Happy?"

Samus' top eylelids dropped, shaping her eyes into half circles "Sort of, but it will have to do. Now then, Cenir, what next."

"Check your scanners, there should be a floating mass on the other side of the star."

Samus did as she was instructed and confirmed what he said. "It's a space station."

"A Space Pirate space station." He corrected her "One of the only stations to hold secret Kriken information."

A confused look came over Samus' face "Why would they have secret information from the Krikens?"

"They once allied with the Krikens," Cenir explained "but they were later betrayed by them."

"Is that why they retreated into the Unknown Regions?"

"Precisely. They fear the Krikens might find them and destroy what's left of them." There was a brief pause "Alright, that's enough galactic history, we have work to do."

"What did you want me to do here?" Samus asked.

"The information on that space station is vital to the mission, you'll need to extract it before we can move on."

Samus laid in a course for the station, and engaged the engines. As she closed in on the station, the tingling sensation in the back of her neck increased in intensity, and a blue light shone from her eyes. She shut her eyes and shook her head. She swore she wouldn't resort to that. Sometimes, however, it couldn't be helped; proximity to some materials could trigger it. Electricity was already flowing through her body, hot and pure. She grabbed the flight stick and turned the ship around, flying away from the station.

"What are you doing?" Cenir asked "Why are you turning around?"

"I'm sorry, Cenir, there's... something wrong." Samus increased the distance between her and the space station. The light in her eyes faded, and the tingling stopped. She stopped the ship and stayed there. Cenir wasn't happy about it.

"What went wrong?" he asked angrily.

"The ship it, uh, no! I-I, ohhh..." It was on the tip of her tongue, but she wasn't sure if she could trust him. It was her secret, one she wished had been left behind. "Just a... little anxiety, I guess." she lied.

Cenir sighed "I need you to do this, Samus. I can't have you getting scared over going aboard an old space station. Too much is at stake."

"I understand." She said closing her eyes. She would have to get it over with quickly then. Turning the ship around, she headed back towards the station. The blue light and the tingling returned, but it didn't progress any farther than that. She didn't pay much attention to the ships proximity, instead trying to figure how long she could remain on board until it took over. A jolt brought her back to reality. The ship had landed. Taking a deep breath, she stood up and headed for the hatch.

"Cenrir?" Samus asked "How close is the nearest computer console?"

"The nearest functional console is down in engineering."

Damn. "How long will it take to get there?"

"With power down all over the ship, one hour."

Damn it!

All was quiet aboard the station, not a sound was to be heard. Of course, without air pressure, no sound could exist. But, if you were to put your ear to a door on deck-12, section-3, you could her something. No, it wouldn't be the hum of a power unit, or the click of a lock opening. It would be more like, metal striking metal, slowly grinding it into a pile of dust. Then you would die as an object burst through a new hole in the door, leaving behind super-heated fragments of you, and metal dust. The object was Samus.

"Ok, Cenir, I'm on deck-12, section-3. Where to now?"

"Your progressing through this too fast." Cenir reprimanded "If you don't watch it this whole thing will blow up in your face."

Samus rolled her eyes. Using her screw attack to grind through doors wasn't going to blow the station up. A well placed blast to it's main reactor would do that for her. "Just tell me where I need to go." She commanded.

Cenir breathed heavily "Head down the hallway until you see a hatch. Open it, and crawl into the maintenance tube."

Samus did as she was instructed. Going into Morphball mode, she dropped into the tube. She rolled foreward two meters, then fell into the main access junction, from which, maintenance tubes spread out in all directions. Samus was about to ask when Cenir's answer came.

"Take the northern most tube."

Samus rolled into it, frozen grease and other unsanitary liquids kicked up like pebbles as she passed. Eventually, the tube ended. Samus didn't bother asking for directions. She bombed the hatch and burst out into a science lab. Capsules for holding mutant specimens were strewn throughout the room. Some were broken, while others held the skeletons of various experiments. A familiar blue substance was splattered on the wall and floor. She leapt over it all, only getting a small amount on the bottom of her boot. Samus didn't notice it, and, before anything could be done about it, was absorbed by the power-suit.

"What now?" Samus asked.

"Take the corridor just outside east, at the end is a turbolift shaft." He replied "It'll send you straight to engineering."

"Anything waiting there for me?"

Short pause.

"No. Nothing on scanners."

Samus nodded. She was about to leave when her blood began to boil. Her trigger finger started having spasms, bolts of chozo energy going everywhere. A missle fired by accident hit a container of Phazon, the resulting explosion throwing her into the corridor, and erasing every memory of that room ever being there. Samus groaned and got up from the floor. Cenir was yelling questions at her, but the ringing in her ears kept her from understanding. Limping down the corridor, she found the turbolift shaft. This time, however, she actually opened the door. Peering down the turbolift shaft, she noticed that the turbolift car was stuck on the level below. She engaged her Scan Visor, and checked for weaknesses.

Turbolift car: Manufactured by Interspace Corps., installed in this installation 8 years ago. Residual energy readings show signs of recent activation two standard days ago.

Activated? By what, or... who? "Cenir, I thought you said nobody was aboard."

"There isn't, why do you ask?"

"There's a 'lift car in this shaft; it was activated two days ago."

"Impossible." Cenir scoffed "Nobody's been in here since it was abandoned. Get past the car, and keep going."

"There are residual energy traces in it. Someone was in here recently." Samus objected.

"How do you know that it wasn't an energy surge?" He challenged.

"And how do you know someone isn't in here?"

"Look I-Hold on a sec." Static burst through the comm briefly "Get going, now. The sooner the better."

Gun fire sounded over the comm before erupting into static again.

"Cenir! What's going on?"

"I gave you an order." Cenir snarled "Now move!" More weapons fire.

Switching into Screw Attack mode, she began grinding away at the lift car's roof. Hoping that Cenir was alright, and that she wasn't running into a trap.